An Auspicious Start

This simple, quick trip down to San Francisco started out like any other but quickly got off to a bumpy start. Arriving at my local airport, I noticed the parking lot was darker than normal. The ticket machine to get into the lot was down and the gates removed. When I entered the terminal, it was darker than normal there as well. The airport had lost power and was on a reduced generator system so the building was functioning at a reduced capacity.

While this was happening, in San Francisco a major storm was coming through that shifted the winds from the north and west to the south and east. This meant a longer, bumpier flight. It is a bit strange when the captain decides to let people out of their seats. In this case, the captain gave many bladders a much-needed break and had it off for as much time as possible. This also meant a lot of chimes dinging, before the inevitable “please return to your seats and buckle up” announcements every few minutes.

I generally do a good job picking hotels. In San Francisco, I have a few hotels I frequent. The staff knows me, and I can often get nice upgrades. They offered me the executive suite for this stay, but it doesn’t have the view I wanted so I requested a downgrade so I could get some work done while watching the storm over the Bay. The room was great, until the toilet overflowed as I was getting ready for bed. There is a reason hotels have engineering on staff 24/7. The staff cleaned the bathroom quickly, however I’m still a bit uncertain about the toilet in this room. Next time I will try to avoid room 608.

Update: It happened again. I really don’t trust this exploding toilet anymore. Fortunately, this is my last night here and I have a bathroom I can use at the office.

An unusual view of San Francisco Bay, looking South. The airstrip visible is the old Alameda Naval Air Station. Docked on the left pier is the USS Hornet, the aircraft carrier that recovered the Apollo 11 astronauts. It is now a museum.